U.S. women push streak to 40 games
The United States women’s national soccer team extended its unbeaten streak to 40 matches Saturday by routing Mexico, 5-0, in a friendly international at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
Two goals by Kristine Lilly and one each by Abby Wambach, Lindsay Tarpley and Lauren Cheney improved the team’s record to 32-0-7 under Coach Greg Ryan.
The only blemish on Ryan’s record is that one of those tie scores -- the final of the 2006 Algarve Cup in Portugal -- ended with the U.S. losing the title, 4-3 on penalty kicks, to world champion Germany after 120 scoreless minutes of regulation and overtime.
Under international soccer rules, matches settled by penalty kicks are officially recorded as ties.
Saturday’s game was the first of eight domestic matches for the Americans as they prepare for the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup, to be played Sept. 10-30 in China. The U.S. is favored to reclaim the world championship it first won in 1991 and recaptured in 1999.
Wambach put the U.S. in front in the 10th minute, powering her way past Mexican defenders Elizabeth Gomez and Rubi Sandoval before hitting a fierce shot past goalkeeper Sophia Perez. It was Wambach’s 69th goal in 89 games for the national team.
The U.S., which outshot Mexico, 36-7, doubled its lead in the 33rd minute when Tarpley latched on to a perfect pass from Lilly, fired a shot that was blocked by Perez and then scored off the rebound to make it 2-0.
A dipping 30-yard half-volley by Lilly five minutes into the second half gave the U.S. a three-goal cushion, and Lilly had another goal in the 70th minute, this time off a square pass from Wambach.
Lilly, playing in the 324th game of her 20-year international career, has scored 121 goals, second only to Mia Hamm’s 158 on the all-time list.
Cheney, playing in only her second match for the U.S., scored her first goal in the 88th minute off a pass from Heather O’Reilly.
“We tried to throw a lot of numbers forward,” Ryan said. “I thought Wambach, Lilly and Tarpley played some of the best soccer off one another that I have seen in a while, in terms of understanding where each player was.”
Next up for the U.S. is a May 12 game against Canada at Frisco, Texas.
Jones reported from Los Angeles.
